Upside Down
by tenkage onna
Summary: nniisan...? he murmured. i dont hate you.what? i...i dont hate you. but niisan said i know what i said. and i didnt mean it.


ne, i needed to write something fluffy.

warnings- uchihacest, fluff, OOC, AU.

reasons- must write fluff!

rating- pg

pairings- fluffy itasasu if you squint a bit.

summary- "n-niisan...?" he murmured. "i dont hate you.""what?" "i...i dont hate you." "but niisan said-" "i know what i said. and i didnt mean it."

disclaimer- not my show, dont sue.

this is AU ne!

It was a bright and sunny day that day as Itachi carried his tired baby brother home. After getting permission to play at the park, the two brothers had spent a while down there, till sunset. Not that Itachi really enjoyed himself though. He hated taking care of his four year old brother Sasuke, because he couldn't go play with his friends while he watched the boy. Sasuke had a tendancy to be afraid of heights as well as getting into trouble, and he was to young to play in a park by himself, so Itachi was forced to watch over him. It really bugged him.

Ever since his father died, he and his mother(his parents were divorced) were saddled with a child who could barely talk compared to his own wonderful vocabulary, and was useless around the house. His mother told him countless times that Sasuke wasn't old enough to help or speak well, and told him he should be nicer to his baby brother. After all, siblings can be wonderful, and others would kill for such a cute little brother. Well, he thought, they can _have_ him.

Honestly, Itachi hated Sasuke. Despised him. He'd known him for only a month, yet he already wished Sasuke had been in the car with his dad when he had crashed. He kept that to himself though. Now, it was sunset, and instead of hanging out with his friends, Itachi was carrying his almost asleep brother home. He had thought countlessly about how he could just throw Sasuke in a ditch and run, knowing the boy would never know what hit him. But his conciense stopped him. The setting sun glinted off of the four year old's baby soft black hair, slightly blinding the other boy. He hated how everyone could tell they were related by their looks. His hair and eyes weren't meant to be shared! Not in the least!

"Ita-kun!" A high pitched voice called from down the hill.

Freezing, Itachi turned around slowly to meet a girl with long pink hair and mint green eyes running up to him. He sighed irritably, and shifted Sasuke's weight to his side so he could stand more comfortably. The girl reached them quickly, and smiled happily. She wore a pink sun dress with yellow sandals and a fluffy red ribbon in her neon pink hair, and beamed at him.

"Hello Ita-kun! Where're you going?" The girl asked.

She was shorter than him, mostly because she was seven while he was nine. "I'm going home Sakura. Where else?" He muttered irritably.

The girl was unfased by his rudeness, "Going home to tuck in your bratty brother ne?"

Something made Itachi angry when she said that, for a reason he didnt know. By now Sasuke had awoken, but kept silent, wanting to hear his older brother's reply. It hurt that he wasn't even remotely liked by his brother, whom he loved so very much. Itachi ran his free hand through his bangs and sighed.

"Yeah. The brat fell asleep on me..."

"Why dont you get rid of him? No one would notice cept your mommy." Sakura asked, glaring at the little raven haired Uchiha who was being held.

Itachi thought for a moment before replying, "Cause I'd get in trouble."

The feeling of tears welling up made Sasuke wish he was home. When he was alone in his room, he could cry and no one would know. Itachi had called Sasuke a crybaby when he first met him, as he was crying over his father's death. So he made an effort not to cry in his presence. He hated it when Itachi insulted him. He buried his face his the older Uchiha's side, pretending he was still asleep. Itachi hated him, he thought sadly, and the only reason he didnt get rid of him was because he'd get in trouble. His small shoulders began to tremble heavily, and before he knew it a small sob broke from him. He felt himself being moved from his spot to in front of the elder boy's face, a scowl covering it.

"He's crying again...whatta crybaby." Sakura mocked, glaring at Sasuke.

The fact that Itachi didnt defend him only made him quiver more, biting his lip and managing to keep his tears at bay.

"I know..."

That does it. Sasuke squirmed furiously in his brother's grip, trying to get free. Without warning, he was dropped, landing square on his bottom. And it hurt, A LOT. He sat there, feeling humiliated and hurt, tears racing down his chubby cheeks. He stood up shakily and ran off, tripping a few times as he ran down the hill. Itachi watched him go, surprised but not entirely guilty. Maybe he shouldn't have dropped him...

"Well, now you got your wish!" The pinkette beamed happily.

The sound of her taunting Sasuke seemed to infuriate him, though he didnt know why. But he hated how she talked about him. Like she knew him. He and Sakura weren't friends, though Sakura liked to think they were. With an aggravated sigh he watched as Sasuke stumbled and fell to the ground almost around the corner, hitting the ground and not getting back up. Pannic replaced his irritation, and he sprinted passed the startled pinkette, dashing down the hill to get to his baby brother. What if he got really hurt? What if he broke something? The fear was more in if he was hurt than the trouble he'd get into.

Or worse...what if he...what if he was dead?

He almost tripped at the thought. He couldn't die! He hadn't truly meant those wishes! Itachi ran faster, almost tripping again. If Sasuke died...he'd never forgive himself!

Once he reached the little boy, he was relieved to see he wasn't dead. The little Uchiha was crying and whimpering and shaking, but certainly not dead. Itachi sighed in relief before kneeling down and picking up Sasuke, who immediately began to struggle in his grasp.

"Lemme go! Lemme go!" He cried, kicking and scratching.

The elder Uchiha ignored him and set him in his lap, wincing when stubby nails sliced into his bare arm. Upon feeling something warm and solid under his nails, Sasuke stopped flailing like a fish out of water, waiting to be hit for such a crime. Itachi always hit him, so he was expecting it. When nothing happened after a few seconds, the four year old looked up hesitantly to see Itachi frowning. He blinked and frowned deeply.

"Niisan??" He called nervously.

a hand closed over his knee as if to comfort the wound, which was skinned and bloody, and he winced and cried out. "O-ow! stopipt Niisan, that hurts!"

The hand didnt move, but lessened its force. Upon closer inspection, Itachi could see cuts on Sasuke's forehead and a small gash in his cheek, as well as skinned elbows, parts of his arm, and his knees. All leaked blood. Now he felt guilty. His little brother looked like a soldier from battle and it was all his fault. He briefly wondered it Sasuke's tail bone was broken from his fall. Not likely, he'd be crying a lot more if that was the case. Fresh tears ran down the curve of Sasuke's puffy cheeks, the dirt and salt from his brother's hand stinging his knee. With a whimper the boy made to try and move the burning hand, but his elbows revolted against him and he cried out sharply.

"M-Mommy!! I want Mommy!" The boy sobbed loudly, and Itachi felt useless and hurt.

He had caused him pain, yet now he couldn't fix it. Standing up, the raven haired boy gently cradled Sasuke in his arms and began to walk quickly towards home. His mother could help! She had magic powers he knew, for she made pain stop with only a kiss. Surely she could magically kiss away Sasuke's cuts! He didnt know what else to do...Sasuke was crying so hard, and he couldn't figure out how to stop it. He shushed him, and did he best to calm him down, but nothing helped. When he got home, his mother gasped and hurried over to him.

"What happened?!" She demanded.

"H-He fell..." Itachi stuttered out, fearing his mother's wrath.

It never came.

Itachi felt his mother take Sasuke from him, and was confused when she only walked away, not even bothering to yell or question him. He felt frightened. Would Sasuke be alright? He had been crying so much. Without even waiting to find out, the boy dashed out the door and around the corner, running as far from the house as possible. He suddenly felt too ashamed to be there.

An hour later Mikoto finished bandaging her son's cuts, and was currently watching him whimper sadly. She frowned.

"Sasuke, does it still hurt that badly?" She asked in concern.

The toddler shook his head, still crying and whimpering softly. Mikoto frowned deeply and pushed a stray hair from her face. "Then what is wrong?"

Sasuke said nothing, simply sucked out the lollipop he had been given. His mother smiled softly, figuring it had to be something Itachi had done. Sasuke never told on him, like some sort of loyalty kept him from doing so, which was probably the case.

"You can tell me, I wont yell." She murmured softly.

The crying child looked uncertain, rubbing his sore knees and sucking the red lollipop nervously. "...he said he doesn't like me...Niisan hates me! He wants me to dissapeer!! He hates me..." Sasuke whimpered before crying again.

Mikoto's eyes widened and she hugged her son gently, unsure of what she could say. Anger surged through her at the knowledge that her eldest son had dared to hurt Sasuke like that. However, she kept that thought to herself, because she had said she wouldn't yell. Besides, yelling wouldn't repair Sasuke's hurt feelings. Once Sasuke had settled down and sucked sleepily at the lollipop, ready to fall asleep, Mikoto left. She wanted to make sure Itachi was at least a little guilty. Much to her surprise however, Itachi wasn't in the house anymore. She frowned and walked to door and peeked out to see if the boy was outside. And there he sat, leaning against the mailbox at the end of the walk. She smiled softly at the sight of him curled up like he was crying, moved by the sight.

Indeed Itachi had cried a little, horribly guilty that he had caused his little brother to get hurt. The sound of footsteps behind him alerted him to the presence of his mother, and he stiffened. He expected a hand to hit him, but instead of a smack, he felt the hand ruffle his hair. Looking up he saw his mother smiling.

"Come on in, its cold out." She said softly.

Itachi simply stared before nodding and standing to follow her inside. The warmth of the house was refreshing, but didnt ease his guilt. Glancing at the clock he could see it was already eight at night. His bed time. His mother shooed him off to go to bed, in his room that he shared with Sasuke. With a dragged out sigh, he forced himself to enter the dark room. On the opposite side lay a crib where Sasuke lay asleep, lollipop still hanging from his mouth. With a sigh, Itachi walked to his bed and lay down, willing himself to go to sleep.

Hours went by, and Itachi found himself watching his little brother sleep, and as he thought of ways to sleep he never noticed the four year old's eyes open slowly. He watched his older brother watch him, nervous and worried another cruel word would be said. When the older Uchiha heard Sasuke shift around, he seemed to notice for the first time that Sasuke was awake.

"...Niisan?"

Itachi sighed and sat up, resting his face in his hands. Sasuke stood on his knees and peeked through the bars of his crib. His niisan looked very upset. Maybe he should have run away while his mother wasn't looking. The hands dropped and the sound of soft footsteps echoed in the room, making Sasuke look up to see the older boy walking towards him. He walked slowly, thoughtfully so, and the four year old watched curiously. When Itachi reached to crib, he leaned against the railing and looked in on his little brother.

"N-Nissan.?" he murmured.

"I dont hate you."

Sasuke blinked and the lollipop in his mouth almost fell out, or rather what was left of the lollipop, as he processed the words.

"What?"

"I...I dont hate you."

"But Niisan said-"

"I know what I said. And I didnt mean it."

Sasuke frowned, though it looked more like a pout. Sighing, Itachi decided he didnt want to explain, and instead changed the subject.

"How're your cuts?"

Sasuke blinked owlishly again before glancing down at his knees and elbows with his large eyes, then smiled. "They're fine. Mommy made them all better!"

A smile crept over the older boy's lips, though it was a sad one. "I'm sorry...I-"

"Niisan helped to just now! The aches stopped when he said he didnt hate me." Sasuke interrupted, smiling widely.

Itachi figured it was just the fact that the boy was still a toddler, but he noticed how cute his little brother could be. Really, how could he think that he wouldn't be forgiven? The boy was too young to really hate, plus too loving to not forgive someone. But he thought, perhaps its too early to say I hate him. After all, he'd only just met him a month ago. The sound of a light flicking on outside their door was heard, before the soft yet firm voice of their mother.

"You two, go to bed! Its almost one in the morning."

Both boys echoed each other when they called, "Yes mom(my)!"

When the light switched back off, they were quiet for a moment before Itachi went back to his bed and Sasuke settled down in his crib, yawning loudly.

"Night night Niisan."

"Night Otouto."

"Niisan...?"

"Hmm?"

"...nothing."

"Night then."

"Night"

0.0 that hasta be the most OOC thing i've ever written. i cant really remember how i talked or thought when i was four or nine XDDD but i have plenty of friends that are little, so i based sasuke and itachi's actions after them. i do remember i usta over react over simple little things though, ("omg he fell! he's gonna die! mommy! get an ambulence!"). also itachi doesnt really hate sasuke, XDD he's just being the snotty brat we all were when we were little. the end where itachi calls sasuke otouto kinda made me smile, cause whenever i ran this through my head, he never called sasuke that, always either brat or just sasuke. so its kinda cute for me. oh, this is AU, so dont go saying, "but wouldnt sakura be naruto's age?". not in this she aint XDDD she'll appear in the next chapter, which will be the last one. or should i leave it at just this?

translations-

niisan: older brother, brother(the word i'm using), or big brother.

otouto: little brother.

zwa.


End file.
